Bulgaria · R&D Spending · % of GDP

## What this measures

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD): all research and development performed in Bulgaria by businesses, government, higher education and private non-profits, whoever funds it, as a percent of GDP. Annual from 1995 to 2024.

## Why it matters

R&D intensity is the standard measure of how much an economy invests in new knowledge. The EU's long-standing target is 3% of GDP.

## How to read it

Higher means a larger share of output goes into research. 1995: 0.43%; 2024: 0.77%; the highest year in this record 2015 (0.95%). The per-person figure is rd.eurostat.gerd_eur_per_capita.bgr.

## What it does not say

An input, not an outcome: it says nothing about what research produces. A recession that shrinks GDP raises the ratio without any new spending. Recent years can be provisional or estimated.

## Source

Eurostat, "Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) by sector of performance" (rd_e_gerdtot, sectperf TOTAL, unit PC_GDP): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/rd_e_gerdtot/default/table. Source: Eurostat; reuse authorised under the Commission's reuse policy (CC BY 4.0). Read monthly by /api/cron/eurostat-sync.